A Perfect Circle
by IAmNumberThirteen
Summary: An alternate ending to Last of the Time Lords. Left to travelling through Time and Space with the Doctor and Martha, the Master seeks to find a way out of his horrible predicament but instead finds something else entirely. Martha/Master
1. Chapter 1

**Hello :) So this is a first for me. I've never wrote a Doctor Who fanfic but I am completely in love with the show! :D And I really wanted to write a multi-chapter story for my favourite couple: The Master and Martha.**

**Yeah, I know, it's not exactly the most obvious and usual couples you've ever seen - but just hear them out. You never know, they might just surprise you.**

**This is a sort of 'what if' fic. _What if_ the Master never got shot? _What if_ Martha never left the Doctor? It might be a bit too unusual for some people to read and that's okay :)**

**Plus, I'm hoping to add a possible Rose/Ten reunion in this as well as they are my third favourite couple (Nine/Rose are my second ;))**

**I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT! :)**

* * *

"So, what do we do with this one?" Captain Jack Harkness, ever famous for his charmingly good looks and flirtatious comments with just about anyone that moves, questioned with a look of disgust that was well concealed behind the dirt and the grim plastered on his face as he handcuffed the man who had done this to him and countless others.

"We kill him."

"We execute him."

Martha was shocked to hear her own family voice their hatred in such a way – especially her dear sister, Tish, who was normally so kind and forgiving. But there was no forgiveness on her face as she stared at the Master with eyes that blazed with anger that wasn't being hidden away. Deep inside Martha's mind, she wondered just what he had done to her older sister to make her so vile.

"No!" The Doctor's voice broke out, not even considering the _possibility_ of killing. "That's not the solution!"

A sudden cock of a gun made everyone think twice.

"Oh, I think so." The owner of the gun uttered in a voice that Martha instantly recognized. _Mum!_ She could only watch in despair as her mother pointed a gun at the man responsible for all her suffering, and the rest of her family's as well.

"'Cause all those things… They still happened." Francine's voice began to waver as tears filled her eyes unexpectedly. "Because of _him_." She said the word with obvious disdain which did nothing except make the Master smirk at her useless attempt of bravado. "I saw them…"

"Go on." The Master egged on, smirking at her mother with a manic grin. "Do it!" In this moment, Martha regretted ever disbelieving anyone who claimed the Master was nothing but insanity walking – she always used to dismiss it as a pointless rumour to spread the hope of countless slaves and prisoners, but right now, the Master's look on his face was all it took to notice just how true that statement really was.

Unbeknownst to her mother, behind her the Doctor had slowly began to climb down the stairs, Martha close by on his trail, careful to not say or do anything that might set her off. "Francine," the Doctor's voice assertive as he spoke which could almost be considered as somewhat cold. "You're better than him." He ghosted his hand around the gun held firmly in the older woman's grip as it slowly loosened to the point where she dropped it entirely. Martha dashed down the remainder of the stairs to comfort her poor mother whom she hadn't seen for an entire year that never was.

The Master glanced at Francine with a look of disgusted disappointment.

"You still haven't answered the question: What happens to me?" The Master persisted.

The Doctor paused for a heartbeat. "You're my responsibility from now on." He looked at his former enemy with an unreadable expression on his face. Hope, pity, possibly regret? "The only time lord left in existence."

Jack stepped forward and quietly muttered to the Doctor. "Yeah, but you can't trust him."

"No." The Doctor agreed, eyeing up his archenemy. "The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

The Master struggled to process this information. "You mean you're just gonna…_keep me_?"

The Doctor nodded. "Mmm. If that's what I have to do."

He turned back to look at his friends and companions. "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wondering for too long." His gaze turned to Martha, who was grasping her mother tightly in her grip, and the two shared a look. "Now I've got someone to care for—"

"Doctor!" Martha suddenly exclaimed in a desperate tone, her gaze transfixed upon the sight of a blonde woman wearing a red dress…and brandishing a black gun.

The Doctor, surprisingly quick on his feet considering the past year he had been confined to the body of an old man, ran full pelt to where Lucy stood.

"Give that to me." He ordered firmly, his tone flat and serious as he held out his hand expectantly. It was all the Master could do not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

Lucy Saxon did nothing, not even blink (which would have been rather convenient had they been chased down by a bunch of Weeping Angels), seemingly mesmerised by the sight of her husbands restrained form.

Martha, not trusting the Doctor to go about the situation in the correct way, attentively reached out her hand to the gun tightly clasped in the blonde woman's grip.

"Here, it's alright," Martha said softly, not wanting to further agitate an already distressed woman, "I've got you. Just let go."

Slowly but surely, thanks to Martha's antiques, the gun loosened in Lucy's clasp allowing the younger woman to clutch the death weapon and hand it wordlessly over to the Doctor as she embraced Lucy who was in clear shock.

"Well this has certainly been amusing," the Master's voice broke through, sneering at his wife in disgust before then turning to the Doctor. "Considering that soon I'll no longer be allowed my own freedom, this is a brilliant parting gift."

The Doctor stepped forward, his eyes ablaze and wild as he looked his sworn enemy in the eyes. "Would you rather I let you die? Let you get shot? Is that what you want?"

The Master yawned, his mouth widened considerably at this point as he dismissed the rage beneath his once friend's armour, knowing full well that he wouldn't have it in him.

"So sentimental, Doctor…" he chastised lazily. "You'd almost pass for a human with the amount of soppiness you possess…"

"Stop it!" Martha spoke up, her arms still firmly enfolded around Lucy's quivering form. "He could leave you here. Let you _die_," She said the last word with clear empathises, "which is no less than you deserve—" at this the Master let an idle smirk grace his features "—but he's letting you _live_. So just do us all a favour, and _shut up_."

To everyone's surprise and amazement, the Master did just as Martha had told him to, he shut up.

The Doctor took a deep breath to calm himself (and to regain back control over the situation before any more guns make any sudden appearances) and nodded silently behind the Master's shoulder at Jack who once again regained complete control over the Master.

"Take him to the TARDIS." He ordered, his tone flat, echoing that of a resolved soldier. Jack complied and led the Master out of the room, handling him without care.

"Ow," the Master complained as Jack pushed him rather forcefully into the lift.

"Don't worry," Jack replied, wrapping his arm around the Master's restrained whilst the latter squirmed in disgust at being so close contact to one who reeked of grim. "The party's not even started yet."

* * *

Walking up to the familiar blue box that held adventure and danger in their wake, Martha dug the TARDIS key out of her bag and unlocked the doors, stepping into the inviting atmosphere, drinking it all up.

As soon as the sound of the doors opening reached the Doctor's superb hearing, he uncrossed his legs from where they were strewn upon the console and removed his backside from the pilots seat.

"Right then. Off we go. The open road." He said as he dashed about the console at a manic pace as if he didn't know where to start. "There is a burst of star fire right now on the coast of. Oh, the sky is like...oil on water. Fancy a look?" Without waiting for Martha's reply he continued. "Or, back in time. We could...I don't know. Charles II? Henry VIII? I know what about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie, bet she's brilliant..." His voice trailed off as he finally acknowledged the look on her face, a look he didn't get very often, but one that he undoubtedly knew.

There was a couple minutes of silence as the Doctor began to process the realisation and try to relieve some of the crushing pressure on his hearts.

"Okay." He finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I just can't." Martha said.

The Doctor attempted to smile but found that if he did so it would come out as more of a grimace than anything else so he kept his face neutral. "Yeah."

"I've spent all these years training to be a doctor, now I've got people to look after."

The Doctor lowered his head as Martha continued. "They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them." She took a step towards him.

"'Course not," The Doctor nodded, cursing himself for acting all sentimental.

There was another short pause of silence as neither of them knew exactly what to say. The Doctor looked at her and gave her a small smile that both broke and clenched at her heart.

"Thank you," he said, his voice sounding lost and broken but desperately trying to hold on. He moved forward and enveloped the black time traveller in a crushing hug that left her almost begging for more.

But as soon as it had started, it finished twice as quickly. A statement from the Doctor came rushing back to her, unbidden: 'Never waste time with a hug.' She had now seen the truth in that proclamation. They are beautiful while they last, bringing happiness and a feeling of contempt, but when separated from your hug, you finally feel the cold and wish that person was back there engulfing you in their strong arms...

"Martha Jones, you saved the world," The Doctor said moments after the hug ended, successfully snapping her out of her 'hug' rant.

Thankfully, Martha quickly recovered. "Yes, I did." she considered briefly whether to carry on and say this next bit, but then decided that she was leaving anyway so it didn't matter whether the Doctor had an insight as to what was going on in her mind during their adventures.

"I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? "She poked him in his abdomen lightly, just enough to send him a little off balance. "I am good."

The Doctor let out a cheeky little giggle at that and the sound of it nearly broke Martha's heart in two.

"You gonna be alright?" Martha asked him, all humour aside.

The Doctor nodded slightly. "Always, yeah," which basically translated into: 'I don't want to be alone...' Martha knew this without a shadow of a doubt.

"Right then," Martha said, not having enough heart in her to argue about this. "Bye."

She leaned upwards slightly to match the Doctor's height, balancing on the backs of her feet for support, and was so close to finally having the moment she had been waiting for her whole life (or so it seemed), relishing in the feeling of the Doctor's blue jacket pressed against her blood-red one, the beating of his two hearts matching in speed to her human heart. The scent of Doctor wafted up into her nose and she thought in that moment, that perfect moment, that nothing could ever compare to this image. Her eyes closed as she moved ever so slowly towards the Doctor's succulent lips, ready to see what he had to offer-

"Hey, has anyone seen my shoe?" A voice broke out amongst the two, successfully managing to steal Martha's dream and her dignity all in one fell swoop. _Oh, for the love of..._

The Master stepped out in full view of the Doctor and Martha. Donning his signature white shirt with black jacket and tie and impeccable black shoes that seemed to positively glow when you start at the long enough so much so that you could undoubtedly see your own reflection in them (_I wonder how many times my mother had to scrub those shoes to get them to that level of cleanliness_) but without, unsurprisingly, a shoe. He looked up from where he was staring at his sock forlornly in much the same fashion as the Doctor gazed heartbroken at the burnt out sonic screwdriver.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" He asked innocently.

Martha felt annoyed at having her last encounter with the Doctor interrupted - no less than the man who had slaughtered half the world and forced her to go walking across and see the horrors for herself.

However, the Doctor was instantly relieved at having someone interrupt this ending. And who can blame him? He hates goodbyes.

Determined to ignore the one-shoe'd alien in the corner she lifted her head up to lightly graze her lips across the Doctor's cheek in a fleeting kiss, feeling his short stubble scratch against her slightly, breathing in the alluring scent of Doctor, allowing it to waft up in her nose and overwhelm her senses.

She withdrew her lips as quick as she could from the Doctor's caressing skin whilst wishing that she could have let them stay longer, maybe travel up to his full succulent lips... But that was just wishful think.

She all but dashed down to the doors, yanking them open.

It wasn't until she was almost outside that she heard the Master's voice speak up, his tone mocking.

_"Aww, wasn't that sweet?"_

As the doors closed shut, Martha turned to walk towards her house, her mind still replaying those last words over and over in her head until she stopped completely and a slow smile graced her beautiful features as she turned and strode confidently back into the TARDIS.

"You know what?" Martha asked, choosing to ignore the Master's devilish smirk that painted itself onto his lips. "I think I would like to see Agatha Christie."

* * *

**Okay, so that was the first chapter over and done with. Woo hoo...**

**Anyway, please please please let me know what you think. Your thoughts, comments and opinions are really useful to me :) Reviews are LURRRVE! ;)**

**...That's rubbish, I'm never gonna say that again. Fine. xD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello**** everyone!**

**I am sorry that it has taken me such a long time to review (_three whole frickin' weeks!_) I didn't know how to carry it on (probably should have developed a plan before I started writing...) and I didn't really feel as though I was doing the characters justice. I really hope that I have...**

**The Doctor is probably the hardest one to try and portray. The Master, not so much (he's insane!) and Martha is in love with the Doctor and most likely feels resentment against the Master for what he did to her, her family, the Doctor, and the entire population of the human race.**

**I really, really hope that I have portrayed the characters correctly (or at least enough so that I can get away with it) and please tell me if any of you have some good ideas or any feedback that you would like to share. I really appreciate it!**

**Oh, and before I forget, thank you so much to all my reviewers, followers and favouriters (new word! :D)! You have no idea how happy it makes me feel to see that people like this story so much to do any of the following.**

***ahem* Sorry for the long ramble. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER! :)**

****UPDATE****

**Just want to say really quickly that I changed this chapter around a bit because I wasn't happy about how the first draft ended and I am much more pleased with this one. Apologies to anyone who actually _liked_ the first one but I guarantee you that this one is much better!**

* * *

It is very hard and mentally challenging to refrain from killing a man and his human companion in the most gruesomest way possible. It feels as if your blood is on fire and your heart is pounding so wildly in your chest that you feel like you're going to explode from the inside out.

It also doesn't help the fact that if you kill the man and his human companion then his wonderful space/time ship could be yours to do as you so please. Say, for instance, if you decide that you're in the mood for some domination - having a space/time machine would come in handy.

The Master lasted five days.

Five disaster-filled, adventure-filled, tragedy-filled, alien-filled, walking-filled_, _talking-filled days in which he felt that the Universe was imploding all around him with no chance of letting up. Even the drums had decided to increase their volume so much so that it would be considered a job well done just to be able to hear himself think.

However, the Doctor and Martha were completely oblivious to his internal struggle.

Well, the Doctor had tried at the beginning to include him in all their conversations and social talk which basically translated to the Doctor rambling on about absolutely nothing whilst Martha nodded occasionally (completely ignoring the Master's entire existence) and the Master yawned.

So in the end, the Doctor, having finally managed to get the hint, left him alone to his own piece of mind and had then decided to turn to some other interesting 'experiment'.

He had started coordinating the TARDIS to land in completely random places (some more random than others) right in the middle of history.

Literally, right _in the middle._

The TARDIS had randomly selected Earth 21st Century as a brilliant place to go and have a quick wonder about - despite having been there four times already! - but the Doctor 'accidentally bumped into' the console whilst in mid-flight so instead of landing outside, they ended up in a history lesson full of half-asleep students and a grumpy old teacher.

That was fun to explain.

Like that time in Mensappallin, where the Doctor was accused of murdering the child princess just because he decided to taste the dust on his finger from the walls, and they all ended up being carted off into the dungeons for a whole night.

That, however, _wasn't_ fun.

Having to listen to the human female's heavy breathing whilst she slept almost destroyed him. _I never knew humans were so loud when they slept_, he had thought. He had never slept in the same room as his dear wife, Lucy Saxon, as he thought that perhaps archangel might fail him and she'd start to have a sentimental reproach to their non-existent relationship.

Humans = Bloody sentimental creatures.

There was also something troubling the black time traveller, Martha. The Master would often wake (when he did fall asleep, which was more than usual as he had nothing better to do with his time) to the sound of her retching the contents of her stomach. More often than not, it would be only dry heaving but on rare occasions she would bring up her long forgotten food.

Plus, there was the fact that she didn't eat. The Doctor had brought up the conversation of food and if she would like to go to the fish 'n' chip shop but she had denied, multiple times. The Master didn't know how long she could go on for without the Doctor finally realising that something was amiss (he was a bit slow like that!).

However, it needn't have mattered much as they were in no fit state to travel.

Thanks to the Doctor. _Obviously._

Having decided that the TARDIS was messing around a bit too much for his liking, he had decided to throw a spanner in the workers.

Literally.

"It's not my fault," he had argued to the pair of them. "It was misbehaving!"

So this was how they found themselves, standing around, the Doctor hidden under the console, trying to find the best way to fix it up again, Martha leaning against the railings, book in hand, with the Master relaxing on the pilots chair, his feet up against the console, all gathering to watch the Doctor attempting (failing miserably) to fix the TARDIS.

"Can you please not do that, it's very distracting," the Doctor asked, gesturing to the Master's legs currently sprawled over the TARDIS.

The Master pretended to think for a moment. "Hmm..." he took his legs down. "No," he put them back up again.

The Doctor heaved a massive sigh and went back to fixing the TARDIS.

"I don't even know why you're bothering to try and fix it," the Master continued, lazily. "You should just let me have a go."

Both Martha and the Doctor stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

"What?" The Master asked, innocently, noticing the stares he was receiving. "You know it's rude to stare."

"Nothing," the Doctor answered. "Just remembering the last time you had control over the TARDIS."

"Turned it into a bloody Paradox Machine," Martha muttered, turning over a page in her book.

The Master started fiddling with his nails. "Worth a shot," he grumbled under his breath.

Suddenly, the Doctor exclaimed, "Aha!" from underneath the console.

Martha put her book down. "What?"

His head sprung up like a shot and he held up the offending garment. "I found it! The thing wrecking the TARDIS console!"

"No, that's just you..." the Master muttered.

The Doctor ignored him and held up the small object for all to see.

"A paper clip?" Martha asked, incredulity.

The Doctor beamed. "A paper clip!"

"So we can go now?" She asked.

"Not quite," the Doctor replied. "I've still got to make a few adjustments to it."

"Oh sure," the Master said, sarcastically. "_Adjustments_."

"Yes, some adjustments need to be made," the Doctor pondered, completely missing the sarcasm that the Master was trying so hard to pull off. He beamed quite suddenly. "But not to worry! It will only take a mo'!"

"A mo' what? What's a mo'?" The Master asked, dumbfounded. He still didn't quite yet grasp British slang.

* * *

Several minutes later and the TARDIS was ready to be piloted.

The Doctor leaped over to the console and began to caress it lovingly. "You good old girl," he whispered to it, the same way in which a boyfriend might whisper to a betrothed.

Martha rolled her eyes.

The Master stared in horror.

The Doctor missed both their expressions equally.

"You ready?" He asked them both, grinning like the mad fool he is.

"Yes," Martha beamed as she walked over to the console and hung on to it.

"No," the Master groaned, still occupying the chair.

The Doctor bounded over to the Master. "Cheer up, misery guts!"

He crinkled his nose. "'_Misery guts_'?"

"And get off that chair. You've been sat down for too long. It's turning you into a demon in human shape."

"_'Human_'?" He screeched.

The Doctor shook his head in despair. "There you go again. It's addling your brain. Poisoning it. You better hop off, let someone with better control have it."

The Master folded his arms, perched his feet back atop the console and held his head high. "Make me."

He sighed. "I warned you."

He flipped a switch.

The TARDIS began to shake violently, sending the Master crashing down onto the hard floor.

"There we go," the Doctor said, condescendingly, "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

The Master grumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he brushed the unimaginable amount of dust from his normally pristine clothing.

Martha tried her hardest not to laugh at the sight.

The Doctor turned his attention back towards his secret lover, patted it ever so slightly, and then whirled the scanner back around to face him.

"Martha," he asked her.

"Yeah?"

"Where would you like to go?"

Martha thought for a moment. "Don't mind. A surprise." She replied back which made the Master nearly groan aloud, he had had far more experiences with surprises and they always ended badly.

The Doctor frowned, put out. "But we've done too many surprises and they're starting to feel less surprise-y now..." He paused for a moment and then his face shifted into one of a comical 'light-bulb' moment. "I know!" He began punching random levers and setting the co-ordinates up. "1997, Earth, New Year's Eve in New York."

"Why to Earth _again_?" The Master moaned, not particularly pleased with this current state of affairs.

The Doctor smiled, enthralled by the prospect of visiting his favourite planet again. "Because it's _fun_, isn't it?"

"No. It really isn't."

"Oh, stop your moaning," the Doctor protested, still fiddling with the various different levers and switches.

The Doctor finally stopped what he was doing, ghosting his hand over the very big red lever...

"You ready?" He asked, his eyes filled with wonder.

Martha grinned.

The Master grunted.

"Off we go!" He hollered as he slammed down the lever and then...

Sparks began to fly out of the TARDIS and the whole ship began to shake, sending the gang off haphazardly.

"What are you doing?"Martha shrieked, holding onto the railing like it was a life line. "I thought you said it was safe!"

The Doctor gripped the console for all it was worth. "Did I? Probably lying."

"You idiot." The Master insulted, venom dripping off his every word.

But as quickly as the onslaught had started, it vanished as the world shook all around them for one last time before plunging the final plunge - signalling they had landed somewhere out in the unknown.

Martha, who had slipped her grip on the railings, began to pull herself up, stating, "What the hell was that?"

The Master stood up straight as well. "Yes, Doctor why don't you tell us: What the _hell_ was _that_?"

"I may have, accidentally, pushed the time rotor far beyond its limit - causing the chameleon circuit to reroute itself, making the artron and huon energy to converge on itself causing a-"

Martha held up a dainty hand to halt him in his speech. "Speak English."

The Master looked at her like _she_ was the weird one.

The Doctor nodded over to the console doors. "Basically, outside those doors, is something new that we haven't seen yet. For me and for you," he glanced quickly over to Misery Guts, "and I doubt that even you have gone this far, even with your own TARDIS."

Martha's smile quickly grew in proportion at the prospect of somewhere new - and if the _Doctor_ hadn't even seen it before then it was definitely something to look forward to. "Another planet?" she asked, breathless at the notion.

As the Doctor answered with an equally fascinated grin a breathless "_Oh, yes"_, the Master stuck his head out of the doors, too curious for his own good at the idea of somewhere he had never conquered before.

"A new world, then?" The Master asked the practically glowing pair.

The Doctor beamed a ridiculously soppy grin at him. "Oh, yes."

"Another new adventure, I take it?"

"You bet."

The Master smirked a little to himself. "So we're definitely on a new world with a new adventure?"

The Doctor's beam had suddenly degraded itself into a bemused frown. "Of course, why?" He knew the Master well enough to know that there was something being hidden in all these questions. "Why, where are we?"

The Master then faced the pair of them with a devious smirk on his lips. "Why, Earth, of course."

The look on their faces was priceless.

* * *

**I really really really hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! **

**And, I really have to say to all you lovely people out there that are following/favouriting/viewing my story, I have deleted chapters 3 and 4 because I just felt that they were all rushed and that they really didn't fit into my little plan scheme thing. I am really sorry if this causes any confusion on your part but I just wanted to tell you that I have done so and my reason. If any of you are wondering why or are a bit lost then you can PM me. I am so sorry :(**


	3. Chapter 3

**...Hello...**

**I am so, so, sorry to anyone who had previously read this story and has noticed the deletion of my chapters 3 and 4. But I didn't know how to possibly write chapter 5 like that - plus I felt it was too rushed and that the Master wouldn't help save the Doctor with Martha's help that early on. **

**But not to worry people. From now on I will be having a list. A L-I-S-T! Well, it's more of a plan, really... So now, I will know exactly what I am going to write and how I'm going to write it. **

**I am so, so, so, sorry if this has caused any confusion or a misunderstanding in any way. :( I AM SO SORRY!**

**I really hope this new replacement of chapter 3 will make up for it, though...**

* * *

To say that Martha and the Doctor were disappointed would be an understatement. They were beyond annoyed with the frequent journeys to Earth - the Doctor even promised a couple days previous that he was going to do his damnest to try and make sure that they were _not_ going to Sol 3 again. (Well, unless they needed fuel from the rift, which was only ever a couple of months in between.) So one could understand it if they were not particularly pleased about being trapped on Earth.

However, they were nothing compared to what the Master was like.

The Master had, after loosing the smirk and the devious glint in his amber eyes, flew into a complete rage that went beyond livid. He had tried everything in his power to make the travelling duo rue that day forever - which basically involved him turning a rather alarming shade of red and spitting everywhere like a spoiled little child. He has made it very clear that it wasn't exactly rocket science to work out that he had come to loathe the Earth with a fierce passion.

The Doctor had attempted to reason with the insane being but he had made it very clear that he would have rather been shot by his dear wife than being in this cruel world that teemed with chips and fat and TV.

So, after a very long while (and a lot of space alone), the Master was finally deemed acceptable to be greeted with the human race, much to his displeasure.

"But what happens if someone recognizes me?" The Master pleaded (not that he'd ever admit to that) with vain desperation. "What will you do if someone recognizes mad old Harold Saxon?"

"But the human race is just a big old bunch of snivelling, little apes. We're just too degenerate to think of something that smart," Martha quipped in sarcastically, not being able to resist taking a swing at the little man who had tortured her family and slaughtered millions.

The snarl that honed in on its signal violently attacked Martha but she was prepared for it. A warm, innocent smile at it and the snarl moved away on accordance of its Master.

The Doctor decided to butt in before things got out of hand - speaking of which: Where was his hand? "_Anyway_, Master, Martha," he nodded to the pair of them. "Outside those doors, is planet Earth in _any _time." He let a beaming grin stretch his handsome face. "Off we go, then!"

Without waiting for both of their different responses respectively, the Doctor took his companion's hand and leapt off, ready to face a new adventure.

The Master arched a brow. "Well, that was easy," he said to himself as he sauntered playfully over to the TARDIS console.

"Oh, no you don't!" The Doctor ran back in and dragged a raging Time Lord by his not-missing shoe, away from the controls.

"I hate you."

* * *

"Oh great," the Master drawled, monotonous. "It's raining."

And indeed it was. The heavy rain continued to pour down, tapping their heads sharply whenever they were unfortunate enough to get in the way. A low rumble resonated throughout the area, followed closely by a quick flash of white light, momentarily blinding them all.

"Ah!" The Master cried. He pointed an accusatory finger at the Doctor. "You've landed us in the middle of storm season!"

Martha smirked inwardly at the Master's lack of proper wording.

"Oi! It wasn't my fault!" The Doctor retorted, getting just a tad on the defensive side. "It just landed!"

The Master scoffed. "Oh, yeah, sure. _It just landed_..."

"Hey, look!" Martha interrupted the squabbling duo. "There's someone over there."

The Doctor glanced around their surroundings and his eyes quickly rested upon the familiar sight of a fundamental human. He grinned. Just when you thought humans couldn't go anywhere else, they appeared.

"Great. Just what we need. Another human." The Master said spitefully.

Both Martha and the Doctor ignored him respectively.

"Hello. Excuse me," the Doctor stated, walking towards the slightly nervous human. "I'm the Doctor, this is my friend, Martha-"

"Hello," Martha smiled. She tried not to let her disappointment show on her face for being only a _friend_ to the man she loved completely. Not that he'd ever see her in the same light...

"-and this is my...this is the Master." He finished, not completely sure what to call the psychopath currently fiddling with the lint on his impeccable clothing.

The Master simply grunted in reply.

"We're, uh... We just landed here. Completely by accident. It was in no way, any of our faults," he gave a pointed look to the Master, "but the trouble is that we don't exactly know where we are, so we were just wondering... Could you tell us?"

The male human gave them all a quizzically look. "So you _all_ just landed here," he said in a disbelieving tone, his voice thick with a Somerset accent by Martha's reckoning. "By accident."

The Doctor shrugged. "_Well_..."

After one more bizarre glance at their direction, the human, with some reluctance, told them all they needed to know. "You're in Chard, Somerset, England, Great Britain, Earth, The Solar System." He had said, going into a bit more detail then they had originally planned. He shrugged. "Still, don't know what you're here for. Not much around here for sightseeing and all that." He added, though it was said with some hesitance, almost as if he was..._afraid_ of something. But of what?"

"Oh, never say never," the Doctor said, not missing the slight change in tone at the last sentence.

The human once again frowned at him. "You are...most unusual."

The Doctor grinned. "That's me." He sobered up. "So...why don't you think that there isn't something _interesting_ about this place, then?" He asked, ignoring the Master's scoff and his reply of, "_It's Earth, what do you expect_," that was mumbled under his breath._  
_

The male once again shrugged but this time it was almost as if he were being forced. Like he was..._afraid._ "I don't know. Just not anything exciting. I wouldn't advise anyone coming here for a holiday, or anything." By the end of the sentence the poor man was practically quivering - added to the fact that his 'farmer accent' (as was so dubbed by the other human herself) was all gone. Replaced with a tone that sounded as if the person was being possessed. Whatever it was, the Doctor didn't like it, for reasons that were fairly obvious. It wasn't because of a certain pink and yellow human girl who had once drawn the entire Time Vortex into her own head and burn. _Definitely not_.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asked, placing a comforting hand on the shaking shoulder of the unknown male opposite. Even the Master had drawn himself out of his depression of boredom, if only to insert random sarcastic comments and body language.

The man had stopped looking at them, and instead focusing on something behind them. "Oh God, forgive me, my Lord," he cried, his face tensing. "I swear I didn't mean to. They just came up to me. Oh God, help me!"

All three of time-travelling trio spun around on their heels...only to be met with scenery: green grass, a slight tremble in the trees as they swayed side to side, and blue sky. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The Doctor turned back around as quickly, the other two following closely behind him. "What is it? What's out there?" He asked, cautiously, afraid of making any sudden movements for fear of frightening the poor man.

The man broke his gaze out of the unknown and turned to the warm brown eyes of the Doctor's. "I'm sorry, what?" He asked the Doctor, all traces of anxiousness removed, his cool demeanour now all but reclaimed.

The Master, Martha and the Doctor were all, to put it bluntly: shell-shocked. "What?" The Doctor said, stunned.

The man shrugged again. "I don't know. You were the one speaking, mate."

Martha and the Doctor exchanged worried glances. Something was _definitely_ up. "Hang on..." the Doctor tried to reason. "You can't tell me that you've just..._forgotten_."

This time, it was the pale human that was giving the three of them odd glances. "Forgotten what?" He pointed an accusatory finger at the Doctor. "You're barmy, you are. I think you've drank too much."

"No, I'm fine, thanks," The Doctor replied.

After one last cautious glance over the back of his shoulder, the human was gone.

"What just happened?" Martha finally asked, needing answers to the ever-growing pile of questions thrown in her way. "Did he just forgot, or was he having us on?"

"No," the Doctor replied, turning to face her and the Master. "I don't think he was." He gazed all around them, as if the..._thing_ would suddenly reappear out of nowhere. "Which means that, whatever it was, is very, _very_ clever. We're going to have to keep our eyes peeled if we're going to have any chance at seeing this thing."

The Master scoffed, seemingly unimpressed with the whole thing. "Great. So I'm going to have to be stuck here with you two," he gave not-too-nice looks at the pair of them. "I don't bloody well think so."

The Doctor turned his wise-old face towards his old friend. "Well tough. You're going to have to just suck it up and _behave_," he told him, sternly. "I've had too much sarcasm for one day."

Despite the circumstances, the Master grinned spitefully. "Well that's good. Because I've got _plenty _more."

The Doctor gave him a once look over. "Oh, I bet you do."

"But what was it?" Martha interrupted, her thoughts lost in space, trying to connect the proverbial dots. "Because if he couldn't see it, then that means that _it_, whatever it was, had some kind of camouflage thing going on." She turned to the Doctor, looking for confirmation. "Right?"

The Doctor grinned. His dear companions thoughtfulness never ceased to amaze him. "Martha Jones, you're a genius."

The Master pulled a face as she flushed at the compliment.

The Doctor snapped out of his reverie by a pleasant smell ominating to the south somewhere. "Is it me or does someone smell flowers?"

"Why is this relevant?" The Master muttered. "They're just flowers. _Loiuvsy._"

"Yes, but they're native to Earth, are they?" The Doctor further explained. "Loiuvsy flowers originate from the planet Scalivia, which is, as I'm sure you're aware, is made up of-"

"Silence," the Master finished, looking directly at the Doctor as an indescribable emotion crossed between them. A sum of knowledge, a shared history - or a shared suffering?

Martha held up a hand. "Whoa, hold up. What's the planet of silence and its flower got to do with anything?"

"The Loiuvsy flower is a type of flower that only grows on the planet of Scalivia. The flower is completely harmless to us, but to the residents of Scalivia, its everything," the Doctor explained.

Martha frowned. "Why is it harmless to us but to the people of Scalivia it's everything?"

"They're not people," the Master snapped at her. Her grammatical assumptions that every living thing is defined as a 'person' - meaning _human_ - was really beginning to get on his overly-sensitized nerves.

"Okay._ Residents_ of Scalivia," she corrected. "Why is the flower everything to them?"

The Doctor was silent for a few moments, a horrifying realization beginning to dawn on him and etch itself onto his handsome features. Turning back to face his human friend, he answered, "Because its their lifeline. Their life. Everything they ever were and ever were made out to be. It's all there. In the flower." The Doctor's face was pained as he continued on. "The residents of Scalivia are creatures of silence. They don't talk, they don't speak and they don't even breath. Not really. But this flower...it's screaming at them."

The barely-concealed look of terror on the Master's face, coupled with that of the Doctor's, was enough to make her empty stomach churn. "Why?" Martha asked, half afraid of this answer but knew that she had to know. "What does it mean?"

"It means war," the Master answered. "It's calling them to war."

* * *

**Wow! Took me a long time to update, eh? **

**Thank you all so much for sticking with this story - despite the whole confusion on my part. I am deeply sorry to those of you who had previously read, reviewed and enjoyed the past draft. I promise I won't do the same with this one.**

**Please review, though. Reviews help update faster and quicker - plus I want to know whether this chapter was better than the first chapter 3 I put up.**

**(And also because, secretly, I'm a review junkie who needs substance xD)**


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